Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to respiratory gas therapy. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to gas humidification devices for use with respiratory gas therapy systems.
Description of the Related Art
A patient suffering from a respiratory illness can have difficulty engaging in effective respiration. In some cases, it is useful to provide the patient with a therapy that can improve the ventilation of the patient. In some situations, the patient can be provided with a respiratory therapy system that includes a gas source, an interface that may be used to transmit gas to an airway of a patient, and a conduit extending between the gas source and the interface. Gas delivered to the airway of the patient from the gas source can help to promote adequate ventilation of the patient. The gas source may include, for example, a container of air or another gas suitable for inspiration, e.g., oxygen or nitric oxide, a mechanical blower capable of propelling a gas through the conduit to the interface, or some combination of both. The respiratory therapy system can include a gas humidifier that can humidify and heat gases passing through the respiratory therapy system to improve patient comfort and/or improve the prognosis of the patient's respiratory illness. The gas humidifier can include a water reservoir and a heating element for heating the water in the reservoir. As the water heats up, water vapor is formed which can join the stream of gases passing through the gas humidifier.
Conventional gas humidifiers are useful in ameliorating the discomfort of cold and dry gas therapies but it can take up to half an hour from turning the humidifier on to begin generating enough water vapor. Additionally, conventional gas humidifiers may not be able to respond appropriately to changing input conditions or may have an impaired response in part due to the high thermal inertia of the water in the reservoir. Solutions for the above problems have been long-sought.